September 11th 2001
by Natd1993
Summary: My account of a firefighter during the 9/11 attacks. Written by Nat, Aged 14.


September 11 2001

**September 11th 2001**

**7.30am**

"Its going to be a beautiful day today sunshine throughout, low humidity really a splendid September's day, the afternoon temperature about eighty degrees, great weather for the primary election, tonight cooler though…

I was woken by my radio alarm clock. That day, the one that changed history. It was my son's birthday, so I was wondering whether to go in or not, call in sick maybe. But being me, I decided against it, besides my battalion needed me as I was their Lieutenant. I got up and had a shower and got dressed into my uniform. I kissed goodbye my wife and was wondering weather to wake Bill to say happy birthday. It was early in the morning though so I didn't. I crept down the stairs and opened the door to Long Island

Walking down towards the pickup point was a short journey, so I got there in no time at all. I arrived expecting to see my friend Rodriguez, but with his absence I remembered that he had told me he was going in early. He works for Cantor Fitzgerald Securities on the 101st floor of the north tower. It was strangely quiet without him on the boat. He always had something to talk about, whether it was how well the Yankees played last week, or just something he'd done at work. I went to sit out on the deck that day, it was sunny, I edged over to a seat as it was crowded on the boat, I finally sat down and admired the New York skyline, whilst listening to the suitable song; Bob Marley's "Don't Worry".

**8.42am**

It had taken longer to get over that day. We were just approaching the port, looking at my watch I knew I was going to be on time though. My company was based in Lower Manhattan, about 2 streets away from the WTC. It seemed like it was going to be like any other day. But nobody knew.

**8.46am**

"Yeah tell him I'll be home for his party, ok … I love you too, Bye". I closed my cell phone, and put it in my pocket. I was startled by what sounded like a Harrier Jet. Probably just a training session, they usually fly over New York. But as it got louder I could sense it wasn't a jet, I jolted my head up and simply couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was unreal, like something out of a disaster film. I could just make out the American Airlines logo, on the side of the plane. So many questions ran through my head; "whys it here?", "what's it doing" and "had the pilot had a heart attack?" Other people on the boat had noticed it too, they were screaming. It was heading for the North tower. I suddenly remembered about Rodriguez and my heart sank, the plane was heading for the top. We all watched as the plane turned and lined up with the north tower. The plane accelerated, and for one last moment I looked at the New York skyline. Then it went in, sending fireballs and shrapnel everywhere. Everyone just stood there, no expressions on their faces. Everyone was in shock. As I sat there with my head in my hands I knew my friend Rodriguez had gone, and I knew this was going to be the hardest day of my life. We had trained for fires, but not one as big as this.

**8.50am**

I got off the boat and everyone was standing in the street. Gazing at the gaping hole in the north tower. I heard people talking about the event. Some were saying that they thought it was a small cargo plane. However they were wrong, I felt like saying something but I didn't. Then all of a sudden I heard the fire trucks, I looked down the street and I saw my team preparing for the emergency. I ran full pelt as I didn't want to miss going with them. I got there and nobody knew what had hit the building I explained that it was a commercial airliner. I walked into the firehouse and caught the sound of that new CNN reporter; "we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the world trade center. It was there on the TV, the north tower with black smoke billowing out. Inside the gaping hole was a raging inferno. I went to go stand by my friend Jim who was 5ft 9 and built like a football player. We discussed what had happened and said that we would both go down and help. There were people up there who needed it. So we all just grabbed our gear and headed for the tower.

**9.03am **

We had arrived at the world trade center; it had taken so long to get down there with all our gear. We set up base in a local deli, where our chief assigned us groups. I was with Jim and a few other guys from Engine 11, I was from 7. I stepped out and looked at the tower, only to hear the same haunting noise that I heard on the boat. "Holy s what's that" I said, not wanting believe the truth that I already knew. It was another plane. This time it slammed into the south tower. The whole situation changed from that second, we had one group for the north tower, but we needed even more firefighters. It was the unimaginable.

**9.10am**

We got out of the deli and went to our specified areas; mine was in the lobby of the north tower. I walked out from underneath the gazebo, and as I was making my way over to the tower, I heard a faint scream. It was a jumper. I had heard the other guys talking about this but I didn't believe them. Was it so bad that the better option was to jump? I instinctively ran backwards only to be splattered by my Chief's saliva. "What the hell do you think your doing Lieutenant! Do you want to get yourself killed?" I replied;

"No sir!" I was so lucky not to be hit by the falling debris, I hadn't noticed it as I was so up for the task, the Chief instructed me to enter using the north bridge. So me and my company set out, we passed loads of people, some of them worked in the WTC and had managed to escape. We got onto the bridge and entered the north tower, little did some of us know, it would be the last time we would see daylight. I met up with the main chief in command, his name was Pfeifer. He gave me instructions to go up the tower with my team. But the elevators were out, due to the burning engine oil. We had to take the stairs, all 94 flights of them. It was going to take some time.

**9.55am**

**Floor number 31**

We had been climbing for a good half an hour now. It had been hard to get up the stairs because there were so many people coming down them. I was sweating and feeling exhausted. Carrying all the gear up with me was so hard. The constant pain in my shoulders as the rucksack ripped into my skin. I looked at my watch it was 9:58am, exactly 55 minutes after the south tower was hit. I stopped on floor 32; my team was all worn out so we braked for a couple of minutes. We sat in an office, and as I looked at the fatigued faces of my team, I remember thinking; 'are we ever going to reach the top? Maybe we should head back down?' I suggested this to my team and the majority of them said no. They were right, _there_ were people up there, and they needed our help. I got up out of my office chair. I could hear the floors above us bending and twisting under the strain of the heat. Then, at that moment all I could hear was a tremendous roar, the building shook violently and I was thrown to the floor. I looked out of the window to see the whole of the south tower imploding on its self. It looked like on of those controlled demolitions. Then the windows smashed, sending shards of glass all over the place. The roar had got louder, and dust was spraying in, blinding me. My team had all been blown back by the blast, I heard my own men, including my rookie firefighter, praying for their lives. Then all of a sudden it stopped. The roar just went, and the howling wind just stopped. I knew that hundreds of people, including firefighters had just lost their lives in that building. So I made my decision; I had to get out of the north tower.

**10.10am**

My team had agreed that it was a good idea to head down. As we were descending we past loads of other firefighters, I tried telling them but they just continued, with no reply, maybe they didn't know about the collapse of the south tower. We had reached floor 19, this time we could walk faster as we had dropped our gear in the office on the 32nd floor. We could hear the building breaking slowly, this gave us even more incentive to go down quicker. However on the 12th floor we came across an elderly man. He was just sitting there on the step, almost accepting his fate. He was out of breath and was crying. He explained to me that he had just received a call from his grand daughter. She told him he had great-grandson, he was on his way to see her when the plane struck. Ryan, the elderly man had stayed behind to help with the evacuation and now he was exhausted and couldn't walk anymore. I explained to him that we wouldn't let him stay there, and that he would see his great-grandson. So I picked him up and ordered Jim to help me carry him, it would now take longer to reach the bottom, but I had made a promise to Ryan, and I wasn't going to break it. We continued on down.

**10.25am**

I looked out of the window, and I realized that we were only a few floors from the ground. There was a large amount of dust, clogging the air.

**Floor 3**

Ryan was fading in and out of conciseness; we had to get him down, fast. My team looked tired. It had been a hard climb, and we know had the pressure of keeping the old man alive.

**Floor 2**

We came out to the balcony over looking the lobby, everyone was gone. We descended down the last flight of stairs.

**10.27am**

**The Lobby**

We picked up a helmet that had been left by another firefighter. I asked Ryan to wear it as it was still unsafe outside. As he was doing so, I looked around my team and I suddenly realized that two members were missing. I asked Jim and the others if they had seen them since we started our descent, and they told me that the two men; had stopped on floor ten to check for other workers. I yelled at them, asking why they hadn't told me this before, they replied; 'we did sir but you didn't respond'. I stood there, not knowing where the two men were now. Had they stayed up their? Or did they take another flight of stairs? Then, it happened. I heard the same sound I heard on floor 32, the sound of the south tower, collapsing. I grabbed Ryan and pelted for the door, my other men followed me, and we got out. I didn't look behind me, I just ran, hearing the sounds of the crashing debris all around me. The deafening noise of the steel supports buckling, and the floors collapsing. I kept running down the street, with Ryan in my hands. Then before I knew it I was consumed by the dust cloud, I coughed, but still ran; I was so determined to reach the end of the street. I was completely oblivious to the fact that my team had ran the other direction. I stopped in the deli were we first saw the towers ablaze. I put Ryan down on the counter and explained what had just happened. Afterwards I collapsed, weeping at the loss of so many friends. I reflected on the day, how Rodriguez had died, and how I didn't know whether my team made it or not. I walked back to the firehouse, covered in soot, everywhere was covered in a thin layer of dust. I met up with a paramedic and gave Ryan over to them; I explained that he was a priority. He thanked me and gave me one of his war medals that he had brought in that day. He smiled and said; "You're a real hero son" before the doors were shut and the ambulance drove away.

**11.00am**

I had reached the firehouse, where I was delighted to see my friend Jim and the rest of my team. I spoke to them and they had explained that they had ran the other way. One by one more members of our team returned. However not everyone did, the two guys who had stayed behind from my team hadn't come back. I accepted this with sadness. They had shown true courage at that moment. Later, we were allowed to ring our loved ones, I rang my wife. She started to cry the moment she heard my voice, I told her that I was coming home.

**3.00pm **

I had chosen to stay behind and help look for survivors, we found nobody. It was extremely upsetting, to be searching through the rubble; I kept finding shoes and hats that office workers had been wearing, but no people. I stayed late that evening me and the guys from engine 7 kept working until 7.30pm, we could have stayed longer, but the other Chiefs that hadn't been in the chaos we had been in, told us to go home, and see our families. So we did, but not before having a moment to reflect on that awful time.

**8.00pm**

I finally arrived at my home, and there waiting on my door step was my wife and son, they both cried when I returned, I wept with them, wondering why I was still alive. What if I had not stopped for that break? Would I still be here now? We all stayed up late that night and watched the news. They kept playing the events over and over again. I saw the south and north tower collapses, and I'd had enough, so I went to DVD shop and rented Toy Story for Bill. We watched it as a family. However we all knew how lucky we were, as there would be so many families with someone missing that night. After watching the DVD we went to bed, but not before receiving word that Mitch and Simon, the two missing firefighters, had been found and were going home.

**Present Day**

I will never forget that day; it will stay with me for the rest of my life. I have never returned to the site of the WTC as it is too upsetting. We lost so many people that day. Brave firefighters that had given their lives for the safety of others. I retired on September 20th, so did Jim. We had only been in the service for over 15 years, but we could never face an event like that again. I have kept in contact with the guys though, and we recently had a reunion party, even Mitch and Simon turned up. This was very good of them, as they had both lost the use of their legs on that day. We all just partied, and talked about other things other than 9/11. We were like one big happy family.

_By Nat_


End file.
